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Florida Narcotics Chief Convicted
Officer Wyatt Henderson
After a four-day trial, Officer Wyatt O. Henderson, a 24-year veteran of law enforcement with an exemplary record, and Chief of the Narcotics Unit in the Charlotte County (Florida) Sheriff’s Department, was convicted of using unreasonable force in an arrest. In March 2004, Federal District Judge Anne C. Conway sentenced Henderson to a prison term of seven years and three months.
The conviction stemmed from the arrest of Christopher Grant on May 21, 2002. Grant was charged with drug possession with intent to distribute, carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest, and flight to avoid arrest.
Undercover officers had arranged to purchase drugs from Grant who fled when he realized who they were. Officer Henderson forced Grant’s van to the side of the road and. ordered him out of the car. Grant got down on his hands and knees but refused to lie down on the pavement as directed. Using a proper police maneuver, Officer Henderson placed his knee on the suspect’s back to force him to the ground. In the process, Grant’s chin hit the ground causing a superficial laceration that did not require any treatment.
An Internal Affairs investigation concluded that the arrest was proper and lawful. But Christopher Grant filed a civil rights action against the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Police claiming that Henderson had hit him with a pistol.
Medical evidence and expert witnesses contradicting Grant’s charge, and polygraph (lie detector) tests which supported Henderson’s claim that he did not strike Grant with a weapon, were not allowed as evidence during the trial.
LELDF attorneys filed a motion for bond pending an appeal which was granted by Judge Conway. Henderson is free on bond. Go to www.leldf.org for late-breaking news on this case.
